Calvin’s Pretty Smile!
Hi everyone, Im Calvin’s fiance Lisa. Just wanted to tell everyone thank you so much for the kind words about Calvin above. He is a hard worker, and avid equine advocate and one of the sweetest people on earth. He really does deserve all the wonderful things that have happened to him this year!
I also wanted to share with everyone that Calvin was involved in a horrible racing accident in November of 2006 in which his wrist was broken in nine places and he had several of his teeth completely knocked out. He has had several surgeries to prepare his mouth for his new bridge- but this requires a very painful proceedure in which metal posts are drilled into the bone where his former teeth used to be. They are about a quarter of an inch long! He has a high tolerance for pain, however he can only do one post every four months due to the swelling and pain that he endures post surgery. Not to mention the fact that he rarely takes the time off needed to complete such extensive surgery and manage the pain with anti inflamatories that he obviously cannot take and ride at the same time. SO, because of that, he does not have his implants yet, but will be getting them this winter!
I just wanted to clear that up! There is so much mis information out there regarding jockeys and their wieght loss methods- riders do go to extremes in some rare cases, but Calvin certainly would never do something that drastic to pull wieght and whatever article listed that as fact is way off. In fact, the only thing Calvin does to manage his wieght is to eat very light meals consisting of no processed food whatsoever. He does sit in the hot box if he needs to pull a few pounds but even this is rare.
Most horror stories you hear about jockeys are over exaggerated. We have nutritionalists that work with the guys to get them to manage their health and maintain their weight at the same time. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, these guys do their very best to be as healthy and strong as possible. Missing teeth, from time to time, is something every jockey deals with- but it has nothing to do with wieght control!
I hope I’ve enlightened everyone just a bit- Most of the BS out there regarding jockeys and their wieght loss strategies is:) simply sensastionalism encouraged by the media, which is sad since personal reputations often suffer.
Again, thank everyone for the very sweet posts regarding Calvin- he appreciates all of the support and hopes to bring everyone another Derby victory very soon!
Sincerely,
Lisa M Funk
